Google Ramps Up Search With New Holiday Deal-Finding Features

Delivering on its recent promise to “supercharge” search in time for the 2022 holidays, Google unveiled a new set of features that add value to shopping queries, ideally to speed conversions.

In a Tuesday (Nov. 1) blog post, Google VP/GM of Consumer Shopping Shashi Thakur noted that “among Americans planning to shop for the holidays, 43% are planning to look for deals and sales more than last year,” and laid out a smattering of features designed to make that easier.

Addressing frequent complaints about hard-to-use online coupon codes, Google is introducing “promotion badges” on discounted items.

Per the blog post, “Our new promotion badge will show up in Search on items running a promotion (like “15% off with coupon code HOLIDAYS”). While in the past we’ve shown when items are on sale or the price has dropped, you can now see specific promotions and compare them to others right in Search.”

This comes with a new coupon clipping feature, “which allows you to easily copy promo codes when you’re ready to buy. These new features will roll out in the coming weeks,” Google said.

See also: Google Search Rolls Out Tools to Boost Visual and Voice Shopping

With price comparison a common practice among deal seekers in 2022, Google is also introducing side-by-side comparisons of similar items in search results.

“For the past year, more than half of U.S. shoppers have visited multiple websites before settling on what and where to buy,” Google said. “We’re bringing you a new, easy way to cut down on all that research time and compare shopping deals across retailers.”

Illustrating how the new feature works, Google said, “If you search for a women’s puffer coat, for example, we’ll show you a side-by-side comparison of available puffer coat deals right in your results.”

This feature becomes available in the U.S. in November, “just in time for the holidays.”

New mobile-centric deal-finding features follow an October announcement of added visual search features for desktop shoppers.

“You’ll see a more visual feed of shopping results that includes products, brands, articles, and videos from across the web,” Google said at the time. “New dynamic filters will also help you refine your search to find something specific. So, if you’re shopping for a new coffee maker on desktop, you can search ‘shop coffee makers’ and filter by type, brand, retailer, nearby, or on sale to find the best option.”

See also: Google Unveils ‘More Visual’ Shopping Tools

Price and Value

Using price another way, Google is also debuting a ‘price insights’ feature that goes beyond basic price comparison, with search results that help users clarify the quality and value of items.

Saying “it can be hard to tell whether something is a good value,” Google noted in the announcement that “we’re bringing our price insights feature to Search to help shoppers understand the prices they see and make better buying decisions. Now, you’ll quickly see how one merchant’s price compares to others and whether it’s low, typical or high for that product.”

Deal-seekers are likely to welcome the new features. The study “At The Checkout: Deal-Chasers Versus Loyal Customers,” a PYMNTS and Checkout.com collaboration, notes that “just 26% of consumers prioritize shopping at their preferred merchants over finding the best possible deal. The relatively small share falling into this category highlights just how difficult it is to gain loyal customers in today’s hypercompetitive eCommerce environment.”